Emil Poeter was a machinist by trade and a well-respected businessman who made his name in Newark as co-owner of the Newark Purse Frame Co., which manufactured fancy metal goods including purse frames that it sold to the makers of pocketbooks. The company started out in 1889 operating at 320 Market St. before moving to the corner of Lawrence and Mechanic streets four years later and finally relocating, in June 1910, to a two-story building at 548-556 S. 11th St. that was designed for its specific use. At its peak, the business employed 50 people. Poeter’s partner was W.P. Blasius, who was a member of the prestigious Newark Board of Trade. Poeter was born on March 26, 1848, in Prussia in what today is a section of eastern central Germany long-known for its precision-made cutlery. He came to the United States on a ship from Liverpool in 1869 and married Ida Steffans (1850-1924) in 1871. They had three children: Anne, Bernhardt and William Emil Poeter. U.S. Census records show that the Poeter family lived on Fairmount Avenue in Newark. Emil Poeter died on Oct. 15, 1906, at the age of 58, and he was buried in the Woodland Cemetery. Ida Poeter took over her husband’s interest in the Newark Purse Frame Co. following his death. Research by Guy Sterling & Bill Mikesell
Woodland 